Species Melobasis cuprifera (Laporte & Gory, 1837)

Museums

Regional Maps

• Buprestis (Melobasis) cuprifera Laporte de Castelnau, F.L. & Gory, H.L. 1837. Histoire Naturelle et Iconographie des Insectes Coléoptères. Monographie des Buprestides. Histoire naturelle de iconographie des insectes Coléoptères. Monographie des buprestides. Buprestis, Nascio, Acherusia, Asthraeus, Bulis, Acantha, Apatura. Paris : P. Duménil Vol. 1(12–16) 65-160 pp. [119] [preocc. Buprestis cuprifera Kirby, 1818, but name conserved: see ICZN (2002); stat. rev. Levey (2012: 54)].

  Type data:

   Holotype MNHP sex unknown, Australia (as Nouvelle-Hollande).
• Melobasis metallifera Saunders, E. 1868. A revision of the Australian Buprestidae described by the Rev. F. W. Hope. Transactions of the Royal Entomological Society of London 16: 1-67 [Date published April 1868] [16].

  Type data:

   Holotype BMNH sex unknown, Swan River.
• Melobasis goryi Saunders, E. 1871. Catalogus Buprestidarum Synonymicus et Systematicus. London : Janson 171 pp. [44] [nom. nov. for cuprifera Laporte & Gory, 1837].
• Buprestis metallifera Hope, F.W. 1836. Prodromus of the Buprestidae of New Holland. Privately published by author in London. [publication supressed by ICZN ruling 1945 (see Carter, H.J. 1945. Proposal that the pamphlet entitled "Buprestidae" privately and anonymously issued by Hope (F.W.) in 1836 should be suppressed for nomenclatural purposes. Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 1: 117–118)] [nomen nudum].

Generic Combinations

• Melobasis cuprifera (Laporte & Gory, 1837).

Distribution

States

Western Australia

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

WA: Esperance Plains (ESP), Jarrah Forest (JF), Mallee (MAL), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA)

Ecological Descriptors

Adult: diurnal, herbivore, volant.

Larva: wood-borer (associated flora: Myoporum insulare R.Br. [SCROPHULARIACEAE] Blueberry Tree (on foliage); Leptospermum sp. [MYRTACEAE] Tea-tree (on foliage); Acacia spp. [FABACEAE] Wattle (on foliage); Jacksonia spp. [FABACEAE] (on foliage)).

Extra Ecological Information

"Adults recorded on Acacia sp. (Fabaceae), Jacksonia spp. (Fabaceae), Myoporum insulare R. Br. (Myoporaceae), Teatree (Myrtaceae)." (Levey 2012: 56)

Associated Flora References

Bellamy, C.L., Williams, G.A., Hasenpusch, J. & Sundholm, A. 2013. A summary of the published data on host plants and morphology of immature stages of Australian jewel beetles (Coleoptera: Buprestidae), with additional new records. Insecta Mundi 0293: 1-172 [60] (Leptospermum sp.)

Levey, B. 2012. A Revision of the Australian species of the genus Melobasis Laporte & Gory 1837 (Coleoptera: Buprestidae), Part 1 (Introductory material, key to species-groups and keys to species of the thoracica, pusilla, formosa, propinqua & gloriosa species-groups). Zootaxa 3464: 1-107 [56] (Leptospermum sp.)

General References

Levey, B. 2012. A Revision of the Australian species of the genus Melobasis Laporte & Gory 1837 (Coleoptera: Buprestidae), Part 1 (Introductory material, key to species-groups and keys to species of the thoracica, pusilla, formosa, propinqua & gloriosa species-groups). Zootaxa 3464: 1-107 [54] (revised status)

History of changes